Merri-bek council votes for Indigenous word over Franco Cozzo for new park name

A new Brunswick park will feature an Indigenous name despite hundreds voting to honour the late businessman Franco Cozzo.

Merri-bek council will vote between Franco Cozzo and an Indigenous word to decide a new Brunswick park name. Picture: Jake Nowakowski.

An inner-city council will spend $3850 to pay for the ongoing use of an Indigenous name for a new park in Brunswick.

Merri-bek city council on Wednesday night voted in favour of naming a new park on Frith St in Brunswick to Indigenous word ‘Yubup’.

All councillors unanimously voted in favour of council officers recommendation to adopt the Indigenous Woi Wurrung language word for parakeet ‘Yubup’.

EARLIER

The late Franco Cozzo has been snubbed after Merri-bek staff urged councillors to give a new Brunswick park an Indigenous name instead.

The community was given five options in a preferential voting consultation, including the popular Italian Australian furniture salesman known for his television ads and show.

Other potential contenders included Foundry (for the steel foundry once on site), Fletcher Jones (the former clothing factory on the land between 1975 and 1991), Fabbrica (Italian for factory to commemorate immigrants in the area) and Yubup (parakeet in the Indigenous Woi Wurrung language).

Merri-bek councillors will vote on whether or not to give an Indigenous name to a new park located at 14 Frith St in Brunswick. Picture: Supplied/Merri-bek City Council website

Despite Cozzo receiving the most first preference votes, a report to council recommended choosing the Indigenous name.

“(Franco Cozzo) also received a high number of last place votes, and comments indicated a split in community sentiment between those who were strongly in favour of the name and those who were strongly not in favour of it,” the report stated.

“Yubup was the next contender, receiving 29 per cent of the total first votes.”

The report stated council staff were also forced to analyse where votes had come from after a social media campaign, in support of Cozzo, was started by his daughter Gisella.

“It would be amazing if you could all vote in favour to continue (my father’s) legacy and (his) enormous impact in this community,” she said in a video.

“It would be a way, for our dad, to say thank you for all the support and love you have given him throughout his years here in Brunswick.”

Franco Cozzo’s name is among the five options Merri-bek council has short-listed for a new Brunswick park. Picture: Jake Nowakowski.

Council attributed at least 8 per cent of Franco Cozzo votes to people from outside the Merri-bek area, including some from interstate and two from overseas.

The report does not make clear whether those votes were included in the final count.

After the full preference count of all 775 votes, officers reported Yubup was the preferred name.

Franco Cozzo came second.

The community consultation cost more than $25,000, with an additional $605 paid to the Wurundjeri Corporation to provide Woi Wurrung language options.

Should council approve naming the park Yubup, it will pay an additional $3850 for its ongoing use.

Merri-bek council is set to vote on the name of the park on Wednesday night.

The Wurundjeri Corporation and Ms Cozzo were contacted for comment.